Sunday, December 15, 2013

A Step in the Write Direction--December 16, 2013--"I or me"; end of page tip

A Step in the Write Direction

December 16,
2013

Update: A busy week with 4
editing/proofreading jobs: 50 pages, 261, 304, and 406. Done except for the
406-page job, a novel….Had more trouble with the COPD, and specialist thought it
might be pneumonia. Chest x-ray not back yet, but antibiotics are helping a
lot!... Really good Advent sermons the last few weeks. The first week our pastor
talked on the Second Coming of Christ. Today he used the words of “Joy to the World”—“far as the curse is
found,” saying we are under the curse from Genesis, but Christ took our curse
upon Himself at the cross. And “greater is He that is in you than he that is in
the world.” Good promise to remember, especially this time of the year when
things can seem so crazy in the world (like here in Mesa where they found the
body of a14-year-old girl in a Dumpster, and arrested the mother’s
ex-boyfriend). Reminds me of the words of another song that “though the wrong
seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.”

Thought for the Day:

If you truly believed that the Lord would return in, oh, let's
say a week...

What
would you do differently today?

What
would you do differently tomorrow?

What
would you do differently during the week ahead?

What
would you do differently in whatever time you had
remaining?

Would
you examine your own life to be sure you're ready?

Would
you live differently somehow? Would you immediately give up some habit that you
wouldn't want the Lord to find you engaged in when He returns?

Would
you talk with your friends and loved ones to be sure they're ready?

Would
you have more of a burning desire to be sure your friends are ready to go?

Would
you be more likely to witness to your co-workers at your place of employment?
(source unknown)

Laugh for the Day:

·Atheism
is a non-prophet organization.

·Two
hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: “You
stay here; I'll go on a head.”

·I
wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit
me.

·The
midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at
large.

·When
cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

·Two
Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft.
Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and
heat it too.

·Did
you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal:
transcend dental medication.

Song
for the Day:

Light
the fire and trim the treeIt won't be long 'til Christmas EveSo close your eyes and make believeThat dreams really do come true

Manger scenes and mistletoeChristmas cards from friends we knowThey'll disappear like melted snowAt least for another year

Watching children as they playMakes you wish that Christmas would stayAll year long just forDreamers like meAnd
those who believeThe joy of the season
would stayAll year long like a December
snowThat just won't let
goLet's hold on to Christmas this
year

(Lyrics
by Dave Clark; recorded for 4HIM Christmas album 20 years
ago.)

Writer’s
Tips:

Two
common mistakes I found in a book I just edited—when to use “I” and when to use
“me”. In the following sentence the author wrote: “Does it have to do somehow with Lydia and
I?” Leave out the words “Lydia and” and see how it sounds: “Does it have to do somehow with I?” You
know that doesn’t sound right; correct would be “Does it have to do with…me?” That’s how
you can always tell.

Another thing I found in this
particular book was that, at the end of a chapter the author spaced down until
they reached the end of the page and it went automatically to the next page. You
don’t have to do this (and it’s difficult for a publisher also to have to delete
all these extra lines). After typing your last line, hit Enter to go to the next
line, then CTRL Enter, and that will
take you to the next page.

Christmas
Devotional

The Light of the World

I am the light of the world. He
who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John
8:12).

It was not how I planned to spend
Christmas Day. Locking the door of my car in the darkened hospital parking lot,
I made my way toward the entrance. For the past five days I had gone to

my husband’s room at 8:30 a.m.,
left for an hour or two in the afternoon, and returned around 5 or 6:00 p.m. Now
he was facing surgery the next day.

At the hospital entrance, I stood
for a moment, enjoying the decorations on the lawn. Lights everywhere—on the
trees, on wire-formed deer, on wooden wagons full of gifts. Lights spelling out
Christmas greetings. “He really is the reason for the season. He is the Light of
the world,” I realized anew.

Entering the hospital, I thanked
God that His Son came into the world for just such a situation as I was going
through.

• He came to give assurance—in my dark moments,
when the doctor told me that my husband was “high risk” and might not pull
through the surgery.

• He came to give comfort—in my
fear when the surgery had to be postponed and my husband taken to ICU for six
days because of heart problems.

• He came to give joy the next
week—in the waiting room when the surgeon said everything came out okay.

Lord, thank You for sending Your
Son to bring light to my world. May I walk in that Light during this Christmas
season, as well as the rest of the year.

About Me

Donna Clark Goodrich, freelance writer, editor, and speaker is a wife, mother of three and grandmother of two. A native of Jackson, Michigan, she has lived in Mesa, Arizona, since 1969. She enjoys teaching at Christian writers conferences. Author of 23 books and over 700 published manuscripts, Donna says, “I write devotional and self-help books to encourage Christians in their daily walk with God, how-to books to train writers, biographies to tell other people's stories, short stories and poetry for readers' enjoyment, and personal experience articles to share how God has helped me through life situations.”
dgood648@aol.com; www.thewritersfriend.net